HOMILY REFLECTIONS by Alfred McBride ($19.95)+

14.95
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Homiletic reflections by Alfred McBride, O. Praem., for each Sunday and major feast of the lectionary cycle and taken from 10 years worth of the Father McBride Homily Service. The following sample is provided for your information.

Why Jesus Is Born Among The Poor

Christ is always born among the poor.

At Bethlehem Jesus was not born in a home, or a hospital, or a birthing room. He was born in a
barn, a stable. His parents were poor, powerless and uninfluential. His first visitors were
shepherds m people at the bottom of the social scale. In the first and greatest of his beatitudes,
Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Where is the Church growing fastest today? Where is Jesus being born anew? In the Third
World, among the poorest of the poor. In Africa, Latin America and India, the Church is
growing. Vocations are blooming. People are finding Christ at a breathtaking pace.

This is a lesson for the "Old Church" of the rich and powerful North Atlantic nations. Jesus
reveals himself best to us through the poor and powerless of the world.

This is the lesson to be learned from our reading from Paul to the Corinthians today. "Not many
of you are wise." Good though education is, it tends to make the intellectual too proud of his reasoning powers and waters down his faith. He becomes part of the "intelligentia," people
educated beyond their intelligence.

Obviously education is very important. What happens is that people settle for a "little
knowledge." But: "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Therefore, brother, drink deeply of
the empyerean spring. There shallow drafts intoxicate the mind, while drinking deeply sobers us
again.

"Not many of you are influential -- nor well born." This is certainly true of the majority of
Catholicism's 700 million members. Christ is found mainly among those who are not in the
centers of power and the geneaologies of the mighty. Christ can be found there, but not often.

"God chose those whom the world considers absurd to shame the wise. He singled out the weak
of this world to shame the strong." We make heroes out of the muscular and the intimidating.
God makes saints out of the weak and the poor. We lionize the mighty. Jesus turns to the lambs
to exalt them. We put our trust in princes. God asks us to put our trust in love.

Why does Jesus ask us to look for him among the despised, the world's lowborn and those who
count for nothing? "So that people can do no boasting before God." God has given us life in
Jesus Christ. Jesus is our wisdom and our holiness and our salvation. No one else can save us.
No human power or wisdom or new ideas can bring us salvation. Only the work and love of
Jesus Christ. "Let him who would boast, boast in the Lord."

Every religious order, at its founding, began with service to the poor. As long as the order did so,
it flourished and was a marvel to behold. When the religious order ceased to identify with the
poor, it became stagnant. It lost its vitality and its membership. It became an aging anachronism
to whom the young were no longer attracted. Reforms of religious orders, similarly, also began again with the poor.

This is one of the most basic axioms of the Church. "Christ is always born again among the
poor."

One book for each of the three lectionary cycles. Also available as a set at a special discount. Please specify your choice in the adjacent box. If ordering the set, I will adjust the price upon receipt of your order. Prices are as follows:

Cycle A: $14.95 (list: $19.95)

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Cycle C: $14.95 (list: $19.95)

All 3 Cycles: $42.95 (list: $59.95)

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